She's Not Supposed to be Here!
by Goose-chan
Summary: When Yaya was playing with things that shouldn't be played with, she somehow ended up creating Nadeshiko! How will Nagihiko deal with this, and how will Kukai feel? Kukade/Rimahiko
1. Yaya's Super Duper Pretty Water Mixing!

**Goose: Velcome, mae childrenz...**

**Rima: Who are you, Tadase?**

**Goose: No... I'm Tsukasa!**

**Rima: …**

**Ikuto: Wow.**

**Tadase: TSUKIYOMI IKUTO! ~desu (what the heck?)**

**Rima: Yes, Tadase. His name is Tsukiyomi Ikuto. You don't need to yell it out every time.**

**Goose: Oh, look! Is that Lulu falling off a cliff?!**

**Tadase: NUUU!!! LULU!!! (runs to save Lulu, falls of cliff, dies)**

**Ikuto: Goose-chan does not own Shugo Chara! Otherwise Rimahiko would be the main couple and Rikka would have already died a slow and painful death. Joy.**

_**Normal POV**_

"So what are we doing here?"

"Where's Yaya?"

"Is Tadase straight?"

"No."

"T-Tadase-kun?!"

"Can I go home?"

"Rima-chan..."

Suddenly, the lights turned on and everybody moaned as their eyes adjusted to the brightness. Amu, Tadase, Rima, Nagihiko, and Kukai looked at Yaya. They were currently standing in her basement, which was empty except for a old-fashioned wooden table with several bottles of suspicious looking chemicals sitting on the surface.

"It's time for Yaya's Random Super Duper Pretty Water Mixing!"

"Uh... Yaya-chan... I have no idea what any of that stuff is, but I'm positive it's not water..."

"Nagi, shut up! Yaya knows what Yaya is doing!"

"Yeah, and Nagihiko knows how to act like an actual guy..." Rima muttered. Nagihiko twitched.

"Fine! Yaya will prove you all wrong! Yaya is smart!"

Yaya began to dump random chemicals into a cauldron that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Yaya, I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Yuiki-san, please stop!"

"Yaya! Cut it out!"

"Somebody get me my flamethrower."

"Uh... Rima-chan... you don't have a flamethrower..."

"AND HOW WOULD YOU KNOW, PURPLE-HEAD? HUH? _ARE YOU STALKING ME?!_"

"_..."_

Yaya coughed, gaining their attention again.

"Look!" she said proudly, pointing to the cauldron. The group looked inside. The mixture inside was a bubbly olive green and smelled like grape jelly and Kukai's gym socks.

"...ew..." was all they could say.

"It's not 'ew'! It's beautiful!" Yaya screeched, flailing her arms. Her hand hit the cauldron, knocking it over and spilling its contents all over Nagihiko.

"Ugh..." Nagihiko muttered as he looked at the mixture dripping down his body. "Can somebody please get me a towel or something?"

Just as Yaya was about to run upstairs to fulfill the boy's request, there was a blinding flash of light. When everyone could see again, they were shocked to see a girl standing next to Nagihiko, who was now totally gunk free. The girl had long, beautiful violet hair and gold eyes.

Tadase gawked.

Amu shrieked.

Rima glared.

Kukai whistled.

Nagihiko fainted.

Yaya finally managed to find her voice and cry out, "Nadeshiko!"

_To Be Continued..._

**Goose: Dun dun dun!**

**Ikuto: What the heck? It's not epic. At all. **

**Goose: … (emo corner)**

**Ikuto: Hey! Get outta my corner!**

**Amu: Actually, Ikuto, your corner is the Cutie Kitty Amuto Corner. **

**Ikuto: (in the Cutie Kitty Amuto Corner)**

**Amu: R&R! Or it will be changed to the Pretty Princely Tadamu Corner! ...ew.**


	2. Freedom? Temari? Yaya's Confusing!

**Goose: Hey! I'm Goose, and this is my BFF, Dwarfy! **

**Dwarfy: ..._Dwarfy?! _Is that the best you can come up with?**

**Goose: But your so short!**

**Dwarfy: That's it. No more fries for you.**

**Goose: NUUU!!! But you don't even like the burnt ones! And think of all the things I've done for you!**

**Dwarfy: What have you done for me?**

**Goose: Let's see... I included you in this intro-thingy, wrote all those manga chapters for you, I eat your lunch when you leave the table... oops, did I just say that?**

**Dwarfy: _YOU WHAT?! _That's it. Today you die.**

**Goose: NUUUU!!! WHAT ABOUT THE READERS?! **

**Dwarfy: Goose does not own Shugo Chara. _But I own her life..._**

**Goose: I don't own Mew Mew Power, either (ick!) **

_**Amu's POV**_

Oh. My. God.

It's Nadeshiko. _NADESHIKO_. As in_ NADESHIKO FUJISAKI._

I was about to pass out, but then I figured Nagihiko already passed out, and that would make it less dramatic and more redundant. I got that from Mew Mew Power. **(A/N: I can't believe I remembered something from those days so long ago, before I ever heard of anime, when 4Kids was my idol… *shudder*)**

Nadeshiko looked at me, and her face lit up. "Amu-chan!" she cried, "It's been so long!" Next thing I knew, I was being hugged.

Nagihiko chose this moment to wake up, look around, see Nadeshiko, and faint again. Silly boy.

Nadeshiko looked at her "brother" on the ground. "What happened to onii-chan?" she asked innocently. At the word "onii-chan", Nagihiko sat back up. Kukai and Tadase helped him to his feet.

"What. The. Heck. Is. Going. On," he demanded.

Yaya shrugged. "I'm guessing there was a negative reaction to the excessive mixing of nuclear matter."

We stared.

_Nuclear?!_

Everyone was silent until we heard a ping. We turned to Nadeshiko, who had in her hair, instead of a red ribbon, a pair of sakura blossoms.

"_WHAT DO YOU MEAN __NEGATIVE__?!" _she roared. Nagihiko looked terrified. Whether if it was because Nadeshiko chara changed with his chara or because we were all gonna die because of it, we may never know.

Pulling a naginata out of nowhere, Nadeshiko glared at all of us.

"Who wants to die first?"

I swear, Tadase wet himself. And Yaya, too.

"Nagihiko, she's your sister, do something!" I hissed at him.

Nagihiko flinched, but nodded.

"Uh... Nadeshiko...?" he stuttered.

Nadeshiko turned around sharply and glared at him for a moment. Then her look of pure rage was replaced with one of utter joy.

"You can't control me!" she said happily.

"What?" Nagihiko was just as confused as I was.

"You can't control me! I'm free! I can do whatever I want! And I'm a girl! I'm free!"

Now it was our turn to glare. At Yaya.

"Really, Yaya, look at what you've caused," I said over Nadeshiko's singing.

"What the heck am I gonna tell my mom?!" Nagihiko cried. He had a point. It's not like you can just walk into your house and say, 'hey, mom, look, my friends were playing with nuclear chemicals and I just wanted to say that they accidentally made a Nadeshiko.'

This was a very big problem, indeed. Then another thought hit me.

"What about Temari?"

Nagihiko stared at me in horror.

"She's right," Tadase said. "Temari was a part of Fujisaki-kun, but now he has been separated with that part of him. So I suppose Temari now goes to Fujisaki-san."

Nagihiko fell to his knees.

"B-But! I can't just give Temari away!" he cried.

"We never said you had to. We're just saying that because Fujisaki Nagihiko and Fujisaki Nadeshiko are no longer the same person, you may not be able to chara change with Temari anymore."

Apparently, Yaya couldn't handle her serious surroundings, because she then cried out, "HAVEN'T YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF TWIN COMPATIBILITY?!"

"You make it sound like they're dating," I muttered.

Yaya hit me.

"Yaya's twin sister chara change's with Pepe-tan all the time!"

"Yaya... you don't have a sister..."

"Then who took Pepe-tan?"

"...Dear Lord, Yaya, _YOU _took Pepe."

"HOW COULD YAYA DO SUCH I CRUEL THING?! Yaya must return Pepe-tan to Yaya right away."

"Isn't this story supposed to be about us?"

Everyone stared at Nagihiko and Nadeshiko.

"I TOLD YOU! TWIN COMPATIBILITY!"

Our patience was wearing thin.

Let's just say Yaya won't be capable of giving Pepe back to herself anytime soon.

**Dwarfy: _suffocating Goose_**

**Goose: _being suffocated_**

**Dwarfy: Review if you want her to live!! And we still have the Pretty Princely Tadamu (gag) corner... muah ha ha...**

**Ikuto: Some best friend you are.**

**Dwarfy: _lets go of Goose to choke Ikuto_**

**Goose: I'M FREE!!**


	3. Telling Mom and What is This Feeling?

**Goose: I'm back! Yay!**

**Dwarfy: Does anybody even read this?**

**Goose: Dunno. READ THIS STORY, DANG IT!**

**Dwarfy: Somebody's bipolar.**

**Goose: Why are you here, anyway?**

**Dwarfy: I need to make sure this is an actual chapter and not the randomness you tried to write.**

**Goose: Phooey.**

**Pepe: Goosie-tan does not own Shugo Chara! ~dechu**

_**Normal POV**_

Nagihiko sneaked through the front door of his traditional Japanese home with Nadeshiko in tow. He was hoping, no, _praying_, that neither his mother or Baaya would notice him. If he could just make it safely to his room, he should be fine. He turned down the hall and was about to step into his room when...

"Nagihiko!"

Nagihiko froze, fear flooding his heart **(A/N: Say that three times fast!)**. Slowly, he turned and found himself looking into the light hazel eyes of his suspicious mother.

"Uh... I can explain...?" he stammered, praying that she wouldn't ask how on earth he suddenly had a female clone of himself standing behind him.

"How on earth do you have a clone of yourself standing behind you?"

_Dang it! _Now he knew where he got his mind-reading powers from. "Uh... well..." he began.

His mother's eyes suddenly lit up. _Oh, crap... _Nagihiko thought, _she's about to go into overactive-imagination-fangirl-mode... _

"I know, I know! This is your daughter from the future! I always did think you and Rima-chan looked so cute together!" Well, it wasn't as bad as that time when his mother "talked" to Nadeshiko about having a sleepover with Amu **(A/N: Oh yeahs! Episode 9!)**.

"No, she's not from the future, she's from this time period," Nagihiko explained slowly to his still fangirly mother.

She then proceeded to pinch Nadeshiko's cheeks. "But... she's real! She's not a hologram or anything!" Nagihiko stared as his mother dragged Nadeshiko into the bathroom. Several moments later, she came back out with a very, _very _angry Nadeshiko and said, "She's a girl, too!"

Nagihiko mentally face-palmed himself. "Mom, can I explain now?" he asked, rather angrily. His mother looked at him. "Why, of course, Nagi dear."

"Uh... my friends were playing with nuclear chemicals and they spilled them on me and..."

"It was Yaya-chan, wasn't it?"

"Yeah... anyway, uh... I guess now you could say Nadeshiko is real..." he looked at his mother, hoping she wouldn't think he was a total freak. _Well, _he thought_, it's hard not to be called a freak when you have little chibi people hovering over your shoulder all the time. _

His mother slapped herself. "M-Mom?!" Nagihiko stammered. "What's gotten into you?!" he said as he grabbed her wrist to prevent her from slapping herself again. She used her other hand.

"It's not true. I'm dreaming. It's not real."

_This is going to be harder than I thought... _Nagihiko sighed to himself.

Suddenly, Baaya came along and saw Nadeshiko. "How on earth do you have a clone of yourself standing behind you?"

Nagihiko sent an apologetic look towards Nadeshiko, who looked like she was about to kill somebody, and then started to explain to Baaya the situation. She had the same reaction as his mother.

After much more cheek-pinching, Nadeshiko-checking, and face-slapping, Nagihiko finally had the two women calmed down. He looked at them both suspiciously, and when he was convinced they were done freaking out, he said slowly, "You aren't dreaming. This is real. Nadeshiko is real. Everything that has just happened is real."

His mother and Baaya stared at him, then at Nadeshiko, and back to him. "Why didn't you say so?" They said in unison.

Maybe he would help Nadeshiko kill somebody.

_Meanwhile..._

Kukai was confused. Ever since Nadeshiko came around, he had this... _feeling_... in his chest. He didn't know what it was, but he hadn't felt like this since before he found out Nadeshiko was Nagihiko.

_Why do I feel like this? _He thought, _And why is is only for Nadeshiko? Do I feel protective, because she's Fujisaki's sister? Is it because all the Guardians look up to me like a brother? _

Whatever it was, Kukai was determined to figure it out. And to do that, he'd have to ask...

**Goose: Woot! I'd say this is the best chapter so far. **

**Dwarfy: That was actually... okay. **

**Goose: What do you mean _okay?! _**

**Dwarfy: …**

**Goose: Anyway... there was very minor Rimahiko in this...**

**Dwarfy: If you can guess who Kukai's gonna go to, you get a free virtual pickle!**

**Goose: What the heck, Dwarfy? The script says _pie_, not pickle. **

**Dwarfy: ...oops...**

**Goose: When you say you fail at reading, you mean it. **

**Dwarfy: Shut up! And REVIEW. _Or we'll get the comb... _(check Goose-chan's profile for info on the comb.)**


	4. It's What!

**Goose: I'm updating again!**

**Dwarfy: And tell them why you're updating again.**

**Goose: Because I have nothing better to do with my life!**

**Dwarfy: You're an idiot. **

**Goose: You're just upset because nobody ever pays attention to you.**

**Dwarfy: I feel so unloved! I mean, they could at least mention me in a review or something!**

**Goose: Dwarfy... there have only been three reviews... I'm sure someday someone will actually acknowledge your existence. **

**Dwarfy: Ack-whata?**

**Goose: _(sigh)_... I don't own Shugo Chara!**

_**Normal POV**_

He couldn't believe it. He _really _couldn't believe it. He, _Souma Kukai_, was going to _her_ for advice. He didn't know how exactly he ended up here, but he did, and there was no changing the fact that he regretted it.

"It's love! Three love bars!" El cried out after hearing Kukai's story. Kukai stared at the little angel chara in both horror and amazement.

"No way! I-I think of her as a sister! Or a friend! But there's no way it's love!" he stammered, hoping she would believe him.

"Who?" Kukai turned and saw none other than Hoshina Utau standing in the doorway. Ever since their whole ramen-eating contest, Kukai and Utau had been in a friend-rival relationship, much like Utau's relationship with Amu.

"_Who _on _earth _can you not be in love with?" Utau demanded, glaring daggers at the boy, who began to fear for his safety.

"And _what_, may I ask, are you doing in _my _house?" Utau looked fit to kill. Of course, she wouldn't really kill him. She would just make him suffer on the brink of death for the rest of eternity. Being anime characters, they never died unless it was part of the story, so eternity really did mean eternity.

"Ikuto let me in," Kukai replied calmly, though on the inside he was cowering in a little corner of his heart.

He heard Utau mutter something like, _"That idiotic cat, he's going to suffer for this..." _Kukai knew he'd have to call the cat-boy later to make sure he was still alive.

"Anyway," Utau said, "Who were you talking about?" Kukai was amazed that the girl could switch topics so bluntly.

"Uh..." Kukai was about to lie, but knowing Utau, that would be a fatal descision. He wasn't nearly as close to Utau as Amu was, and she had to escape murder by Utau on a daily basis. Apparently, Utau still had a minor brother-obsession, and Amu being all chummy with Ikuto wasn't helping.

He decided to tell the truth to the demon girl. "I was talking about Fujisaki," he said bluntly. Utau stared at him like he had three heads.

"Isn't he a dude? I knew Tadase liked him, but I had no idea you did too," she said, causing Kukai to twitch. He had known about what the Ikuto fangirls called Tadase, but he never thought that the blond boy really was. Now that he thought about it, the Nagihiko fangirls called him that, too. And the Kukai fangirls. And maybe a few Kairi fangirls, as well.

"No, you're thinking of Fujisaki _Nagihiko_. I'm talking about Fujisaki _Nadeshiko._" he explained. Again, he got the 'you-have-three-heads' look. He was beginning to believe he really did have three heads.

"Aren't they the same-"

"They were," Kukai interrupted her. Utau looked at him, confused. "Ugh... how do I say this... Yaya was playing with nuclear chemicals and spilled them on him," he told her, "and now both Nagihiko and Nadeshiko are real."

Utau took a moment to take this all in before saying, "So you like Nadeshiko, not Nagihiko?" Kukai groaned, frustrated.

"I don't like Nadeshiko!" he yelled.

"So you like Nagihiko?!"

"No!"

"Then Nadeshiko!"

Kukai dug his nails into his palms to keep himself from making the fatal mistake of hitting the blond singer.

"For the last time, I DON'T LIKE HER. She's just a friend! I just feel overprotective because she's my best friend's sister! I want to protect her, because we both know a lot of guys will go for her!"

Utau smirked and said, "Why do guys like her so much?"

Now it was Kukai's turn to give the 'you-have-three-heads' stare. "Because of her pale, porcelain skin, and her big, shiny golden eyes, and her beautiful, flowing, violet hair and..." Kukai stopped, realizing what he had just done. Utau's smirk got even bigger.

"Sure sounds like love to me."

"El agrees desu!"

Kukai groaned again. These two were impossible. With their knowledge on love, going to Amu, the most indecisive girl on the planet, would have been easier. He sighed audibly and marched out the door, waving good-bye to Ikuto, who was too busy playing with a neon-pink ball of yarn to notice him leave. Kukai could have sworn he heard someone go 'nya' as he close the front door.

As he walked home, he thought about what El and Utau had said. Of course it wasn't love. He only thought of Nadeshiko as a little sister! That was it. That's all he felt for her. _But... _he thought_, I don't think that way about Amu or Yaya_.

He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket and took it out to see that he had one new message from Utau. He read it out loud:

_Did Yaya really play with nuclear chemicals? Your friends are so messed up!_

_~Utau & El_

_P.S. It's love desu!_

Kukai sighed. What if it was love? What would he do if he really was in love with Fujisaki Nadeshiko?

**Goose: And this chapter is over. Yay. **

**Dwarfy: WHY DOES KUKAI LOVE NADESHIKO?! HE'S SUPPOSED TO LOVE ME!!**

**Goose: Calm down, Dwarfy. You know I don't like actual characterXOC pairings. Besides, I love Nagi (understatement of the century), and I write Rimahiko anyway. **

**Dwarfy: Meh. **

**Goose: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! *puppy eyes***


	5. Kerfuffle!

**Goose: I'm back! Again! **

**Dwarfy: Guess what! I can read Goose's mind!**

**Goose: No, you can't.**

**Dwarfy: Yes, I can. **

**Goose: Prove it. **

**Dwarfy: You're thinking that kazorashi and hopexescaliber are the awesome-est reviewers in the history of awesome reviewers. **

**Goose: …**

**Dwarfy: That means I'm right. Goose does not own Shugo Chara! **

_**Normal POV**_

"Hurry up, we'll be late!" the purple-haired boy yelled to the identical-looking girl who was running several feet behind. The two 6th graders, after a hectic morning, were at least fifteen minutes behind schedule.

Now, if your wondering why said morning was so demonic, we'll begin by saying that it was, indeed, Nagihiko's fault. Nadeshiko, being the responsible child she is, tried to wake her brother up half-an-hour early, knowing that he would be very slow after what had happened the past few chapters. But Nagihiko, being the lazy bum he is, did not get up within the half-hour he had. Nor did he get up the twenty minutes after that. Hey, Nadeshiko was lucky that idiot got up at all. And now, because Nadeshiko was not the most athletic person out there, it obviously made it her fault that they were now sprinting to get to the academy before the gates closed.

At this point, Rhythm and Temari had given up on their bearer(s) and went ahead to sit on the fence surrounding the school. Seeing that the two were obviously not going to make it on time, Rhythm sighed and snapped his midget fingers.

_Ping._

A pair of headphones appeared around the elder boy's neck, and he literally swept his little sister off her feet and, putting on a burst of speed, somehow managed to miraculously make it through the school gates in time. If you count Nagihiko losing his jacket to the gate's evil clutches on time.

Nagihiko and Nadeshiko sighed as the trudged into the classroom, where Amu, Tadase, and Rima were waiting for them. Now, being Guardians, various stalker-y characters were always watching the trio's every move, so when they looked up at the two purple-heads, so did everyone else.

It. Was. Bad.

There were several cries of, "_Nadeshiko-sama!_" before the unsuspecting girl was glomped by five dozen fanboys, most of which did not even attend Seiyo Academy. All this time, Nagihiko was thinking, _Thank God I'm not Nadeshiko anymore._

After rescuing Nadeshiko from the fanboys, Amu, Rima, Tadase, and Nagihiko set up a little corner, where the Guardians could go emo about all of their personal issues. Don't ask me why, Yaya wanted an emo corner, and I am merely an author. There were various reasons the Guardians used said emo corner. The emo corner used itself because Tsukasa felt it necessary to name the emo corner "Happy-chan." The emo corner was not happy about this. Tadase used this corner to be depressed about being a failure at life. Amu used it to be depressed about not being able to choose who she loved, even though the corner told her she obviously loved Ikuto. Now Amu thinks she may be in love with Happy-chan as well. Rima used this corner to be depressed about how she hated Nagihiko. Nagihiko wallowed in his own self-pitying cross dresser memories. Yaya mourned at the schools lack of candy in the lunch program. Nadeshiko just stared with a 'what the heck?' look on her face.

Moving on from the topic of Happy-chan, Tsukasa also decided to be a total kerfuffle **(A/N: Dwarfy: What? Goose: Shut up. I like saying kerfuffle. Dwarfy: I really worry about you...)** and send the Guardians off to a We're-Gonna-Go-Watch-Penguins-Mate-And-Like-It Meeting. Of course, Ikuto was there. Everyone else left.

After recovering from the penguin meeting, which scarred the majority of the group for life, the Guardians headed for the Royal Garden, hoping to have a semi-normal rest-of-the-day. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen, because as soon as they set foot in the glass structure, there was an ear-splitting scream that they automatically knew was supposed to be a flirty laugh, coming from none other the Yamabuki Saaya.

"Fujisaki Nadeshiko!" that irritating moron cried out, "I will not lose Tadase-sama, Kukai-sama, Kairi-sama, Nagihiko-sama, or Suzuki-sama to you!"

Nadeshiko stared for a moment, totally horrified. Tadase? Ew, no way would she ever like him, no matter how respectful she acted on the outside. Kairi? Heck, she didn't even know who he was. Nagihiko? No, she definitely wasn't an Utau. Suzuki? Wasn't that Amu's demon fanboy that stalked her and the others everywhere they went and then got sent to a mental asylum? Or was that Rikka? No, that was definitely Rikka. Kukai... she wasn't going to answer that right now. As Yaya scolded Saaya on the proper ways to eat melting ice cream, Amu dragged Nadeshiko to the side.

"I noticed you flinched at everyone's name but Kukai," the pink-haired girl said sneakily. This annoyed Nadeshiko very much. Not because Amu noticed her reaction to Kukai, but because she was supposed to be the stalker-mind-reader of the duo.

"Listen, Amu-chan, I don't feel anything towards Kukai-"

"Who said you felt anything towards him?" Amu said, oblivious. Of course, Amu was hinting that Nadeshiko liked Kukai and she didn't even know it. Typical Amu.

"Anyway, since when did you call him Kukai? What happened to Souma-kun?" Nadeshiko flinched, realizing her mistake. She had sorta-kinda started calling Kukai 'Kukai' in her dreams, not that she dreamed about him or anything. No, dreaming weird dreams about guys was Amu's job. She should know, she used to be one of those guys.

Nagihiko looked over and saw Amu and Nadeshiko talking. Amu giggled. Nadeshiko blushed. _Oh, Dear Lord, _he thought to himself, _Nadeshiko is blushing. It better not be about a guy, cause I don't wanna be in the I'm-Just-Like-Tadase Club..._ Then the author then proceeded to hit the boy for inventing such a club, for bashing Tadase was her job. Nagihiko just stood there, wondering why there was such a large lump forming on his now sore head.

**Dwarfy: … What the heck was that?!**

**Goose: Kind of a stress relief chapter...**

**Dwarfy: _You're stressed?! _I'm the one who has to worry about what the heck you're going to have me say while the real me is at home enjoying life while I still can!**

**Goose: You mean sleeping, staring at pictures of Kukai, and then sleeping some more. **

**Dwarfy: Anyway, don't you have a test on the periodic table tomorrow?**

**Goose: … Aw, KERFUFFLE! (starts studying)**

**Dwarfy: Uh... R&R...?**

**Goose: Tin is Sn... Sodium is Na... Potassium is... Ack! What's potassium?! BTW, I'm a Nagi fangirl :)**


	6. How do I Feel?

**Goose: Hello, to those few people who didn't give up after the first two chapters and kept reading this! **

**Dwarfy: Hurrah!**

**Goose: Uh... so anyways, I'll probably only update when I have at least one review for each chapter...**

**Dwarfy: Because she is lazy and needs motivation to put effort into writing. Or life in general. **

**Goose: Exactly! Anyway, _some people _(you know who you are) have asked for more Rimahiko, and I realize that there is an epic lack of Rimahiko in this. **

**Dwarfy: So dis is a Rimahiko chappie! Goose does not own Shugo Chara!**

_**Nagihiko's POV**_

I sighed as I stared at the ceiling of my room, thinking. About her. About Rima. I really didn't know how I felt about her. Sometimes, I just hated her so much. And sometimes, I feel like I'd do anything for her. God, why can't I just make up my mind?!

I really must be desperate, for I found myself standing up and walking out of my room and down the hall to Nadeshiko's. I knocked gently.

"Come in."

I carefully slid open the door and looked at my "sister" laying on her bed, reading some fashion magazines Amu-chan had lent her. Ugh, for someone who used to be a part of me, she sure has bad taste in hobbies.

"Hey, Nadeshiko, can I ask you something?" I asked hesitantly. If anyone would understand how I felt, it would be her.

"You just did. But you may ask another." Nadeshiko grinned at me, and I can understand why she has so many fanboys. She's really very pretty, and could probably out-kira-kira-smile Tadase any day. Wait, did I just call myself pretty?

I sat down next to her. "Uh... it's about Rima..." I began, but Nadeshiko hushed me. "I know," she said simply.

Dang twin telepathy.

"It's not twin telepathy, you idiot. Even if I have my own body now, I still have the memories from when I was part of you. I know how you feel about everything, Nagi." Nadeshiko smiled again. I just stared. I knew that she would know a lot about me, seeing as she used to be me, but I didn't expect this much.

"So what do I do?" I pleaded, "I don't know if I love her or hate her or just like her as a friend or if it's just a little crush or-"

"Shut up. You're making my head hurt."

I sweat-dropped. She really was blunt when it came to things that annoyed her. I guess that was partly (mostly (totally)) my fault, though. She looked at me again, and began to speak slowly, as if she wasn't sure about what she was about to say.

"I think... I can understand how you feel right now..." I noticed a faint blush on her cheeks and her eyes spaced out a little bit.

"You like Rima?" I joked, not liking the fact that Nadeshiko obviously liked a guy. I definitely wasn't Tadase. I winced when Nadeshiko hit me.

"Of course not, you idiot! I said I understood how you felt, not how you feel towards Rima-chan."

I sighed and looked at my little sister. It was so scary, knowing how she wasn't supposed to be real. I already loved her so much, I don't know what I would do if she suddenly stopped existing again. She noticed my gaze.

"What's wrong?" she asked innocently. I smiled and pulled her into a bear hug.

"Nothing. I love you, you know that?" she giggled and blushed a little bit, in the 'I -have-a-super-awesome-caring-handsome-athletic-awesome-older-brother' way, not in the romantic way, if that's what you were thinking.

I really do love this girl. The question is: Do I love Rima, too?

_**Rima's POV**_

I sighed as I stared at the ceiling of my room, thinking. Rolling onto my side, I still felt fuzzy from school, where Nagihiko had held my hand to help me up after I fell down the stairs.

I felt fuzzy from hatred, right? I hated him so much. I just wanted him to die... right? I honestly don't know anymore. I want to hate him. What reason do I have not to hate him? He took Amu away from me and lied to them about Nadeshiko for so long. So what if he told her the truth? It wasn't until after I blackmailed him into it.

_Flashback_

"_Tell her. Now," I demanded, glaring at the taller boy with such power that a grown man would've cowered in fear. This guy didn't._

"_No," he said simply, "I'm not ready to tell her, and she's not ready to know."_

_I continued glaring at him. Such nerve! He dare disobey the Queen? So what if he was a former Queen, he was just a pathetic Jack now, and he should do what I say. Man, I sound like Tadase..._

_I felt a light bulb go off over my head. That's it! That's what I'd do! It's genius! The perfect plan! All it required was a little photo editing..._

_The next day, I smirked as I walking up to that ungrateful little (use your imagination here). I pulled out a picture and handed it to him wordlessly. He looked at it for a moment before his eyes widened in total horror. _

_Yep. I edited a picture to make it look like he was kissing Tadase. Aren't I so kind? He glared at me. "What do you want?"_

"_I want you to tell Amu the truth."_

"_And if I don't?"_

"_Then that picture gets sent out to the entire student body. And your mother."_

_Nagihiko clenched his fists. "Fine," he replied bitterly. He walked up to Amu, occasionally glancing pleadingly over his shoulder. I just shook my head no every time. _

"_Uh... Amu-chan..." he began. I took out a video camera. I so wanted to watch this again when I got home. _

"_What is it, Nagihiko?" Amu looked up at Nagihiko with her big, golden, unsuspecting eyes. I started to feel a little bit guilty. _

"_Uh... well, you see..." I could see Nagihiko starting to sweat. At this rate, she'd know by next Tuesday. "N-Nadeshiko was never real... it was me... the whole time..." _

_Amu gawked for a moment, then tears began to run down her face. "Is that true, Nagihiko? You've been lying to me this whole time?" Nagihiko nodded, his face full of guilt, worry, and sadness. _

_Amu took a breath and tried to look cheerful. "It's okay." Nagihiko gasped._

"_W-what?" Nagihiko looked at Amu with hope and confusion._

"_We're friends, right? Friends don't get mad at friends. Sure, I'm upset that you didn't tell me sooner, but at least you told me at all."_

_A smile spread across Nagihiko's face. "Well, I gotta go babysit Ami," Amu said, turning and sprinting in the opposite direction. Nagihiko ran over to me and scooped me up in a big bear hug _**(A/N: Nagi sure loves bear hugs, doesn't he?)**_. I felt my face heat up. It was with rage, right? I was mad because he hugged me, right?_

"_Rima, thank you so much! I'm so glad I finally got that off my chest! And it's all thanks to you!" Nagihiko put me down and gave me one of his famous smiles. My heart began to race. And that was the beginning of my confusion about my feelings. _

_End Flashback_

I sighed again as I picked up the video camera sitting on my desk. I had thought about it for a while, and now I was going to delete that video I took of Nagihiko telling Amu the truth. I had only taken it to watch him get hurt, but now when I saw him get hurt, I felt anger and sadness, pity and fear. I didn't want him to get hurt, and I just couldn't bring myself to hurt him anymore. Sure, I'd kick him or insult him at the Guardian meetings, but it always made me feel like my heart and head were both breaking into a million pieces. I knew I'd have to stop someday, if I wanted to stay relatively sane. As I hit the delete button on the camera, I thought about all the things Nagihiko has done for me. He's constantly protecting me from X-eggs, standing up for me, everything. Why? Why does he always help me, even after I hurt him so much? Why does he care?

Why does he even notice me?

I jumped when my cell phone rang. I picked it up and checked the caller ID: Hinamori Amu.

"Hello?" I said quietly into the phone. I could hear Amu giggling on the other side.

"Hey, Rima, do you think you could come over for a sleepover tomorrow night?" she asked excitedly.

"Why are you so happy?" I demanded. Overly-happy people were annoying. Wow, now I sound like Hikaru. Lovely.

"Nadeshiko and Yaya are coming, too." I heard someone giggle in the background. Who was that?

Ugh. Nadeshiko. Nagihiko's sister. I don't think I'll be able to face her, after all I've done to him. I talk to her a lot at school, but that's school. That's different. At school, everyone has on their own mask, hiding who they really are, what they think, and who they want to be. People hardly ever show the others what they're like on the inside. Everyone is just a poser and a fake.

"I don't think I can make it," I said bluntly. I heard Amu wince on the other side.

"Come on, Rima!" she begged, "Please!"

"No."

"I'll pay for the next volume of comedy manga that comes out." Dang. That girl really knew me well. Gag manga, my weakness, my love... Gag manga, gag manga, wherefore art thou, gag manga?

"Deal." I said bitterly.

"Yes!" Wait, was that Yaya?! And I swear I heard Amu hiss, _"Yaya, hush!"_ They're planning something. I don't know what it is, but I will find out, or else my name's not Mashiro Rima, Queen of all things Drama and Comedy!

_**Amu's POV**_

The plan was going perfectly. Me and Yaya, even though you would never expect it, are actually evil masterminds. Okay, that's an overstatement, and we're nothing compared to Rima, Nadeshiko and Nagihiko, but we can still make them feel uncomfortable. And boy, were we going to make them feel uncomfortable. Yaya looked at me and smirked.

"Commence: Operation Kukade Rimahiko!" she yelled excitedly.

There are two things you need to know about our sleepovers. One: We ALWAYS play Truth or Dare. No matter what. And two: NEVER play Truth or Dare with us. You will die.

This is going to be fun. Very fun.

**Goose: Sweet mother of all things kerfuffle, this chapter is so much longer than the others!**

**Dwarfy: Aren't you sick?**

**Goose: Yeah... I have a cold, the inside of my ears are really itchy, I'm tired, my throat is killing me... but I have to go to school because I have chorus tomorrow and I'm failing chorus.**

**Dwarfy: How do you fail chorus?! **

**Goose: I dunno. My participation grades are all 100's and 95's, but I got a really low grade on something and that somehow managed to bring my grade down to a 79%.**

**Dwarfy: Out of 100?!**

**Goose: Yep. **

**Dwarfy: That's not really failing, but from you, that's just... wow.**

**Goose: You were more shocked when I got a 64 on that Algebra quiz. **

**Dwarfy: That's cause you're in _Algebra_. And the fancy accelerated Algebra, which is two levels above our grade level.**

**Goose: And then there's you, who can't spell lazy...**

**Dwarfy: Shut up.**

**Goose: Just remember, there's only one z. **

**Dwarfy: SHUT UP! R&R!**

**Goose: Heck yeah! 2,000 words!**


	7. Truth or Dare!

**Goose: I stayed home sick yesterday, and I got my one review for the last chapter, so I'm updating again...**

**Dwarfy: What about failing chorus?**

**Goose: I redid the thing I failed after I updated last and my mom brought it to school yesterday morning... But since yesterday was Friday, I get a three day weekend :D**

**Dwarfy: Lucky.**

**Goose: Oh, Dwarfy, do you think we should have Thomas here?**

**Dwarfy: ...Bring her in next chapter... (laughs evilly)**

**Goose: I don't own Shugo Chara!**

_**Normal POV**_

Rima stood nervously on the Hinamori's front step and hesitantly rang the doorbell. She held her bag in one hand and the other was clutching her cell phone in her pocket. When she had told her parents she was going to Amu's sleepover, they were enraged that she had agreed without asking them first. They only agreed to let her go when she promised she would have her cell phone with her at all times.

The door opened, and Mrs. Hinamori smiled at Rima gently. "Hello, Rima-chan," she greeted her, "Amu and Yaya-chan are upstairs." Rima nodded and walked into the Hinamori household, looking around. It was a very clean home, and she could see Ami singing in the living room while Mr. Hinamori took pictures and yelled, "That's my little sparrow! Go, Ami-chan, go!"

Rima frowned. Amu's family was so close, so friendly, so caring. Amu had a little sister and two loving parents, and she took it for granted. She wasn't thankful, she was constantly complaining about how embarrassing they were, yet she didn't realize how lucky she was that she had them around at all. Oh well. Amu was stubborn; she'd figure it out eventually.

As Rima trudged up the stairs, she heard giggling coming from Amu's room. Smiling again, Rima knocked on the door, excited yet terrified to be going to her first sleepover. Before she had nearly been kidnapped, she had never had many friends because she was shy, and after that incident, her parents had never trusted anyone enough to let them have their daughter for a night.

The door flung open and she saw Amu standing in the doorway, grinning mischievously. Rima was scared. Amu only looked like that when she was either fantasizing about one of her crushes or plotting something evil. Rima hoped for the first.

"Rima-tan!" Yaya called out as she glomped the small girl. "Yaya planned lots of fun stuff! Now we only need to wait for Na-chi **(A/N: Sorry, I don't know how to spell Yaya's nickname for Nadeshiko. If you know, please tell me!) **to get here!" Nadeshiko wasn't here yet? She was almost never late. Did something happen? Maybe she wasn't coming! Now Rima wouldn't have to worry! She could enjoy this sleepover in peace! Or as peaceful as it gets with Yaya around...

The doorbell rang. Darn.

Rima could hear Mrs. Hinamori cry out from downstairs. "Nadeshiko-san! It's been so long!" Amu raced downstairs with Yaya and Rima not far behind. They came to the front door to see the purple haired girl being suffocated in Mrs. Hinamori's hug. "It's nice to see you again, too..." she managed to choke out.

Amu screeched and pulled the girl out of her mother's clutches. Nadeshiko nodded as thanks and quickly went to hide behind Yaya and Rima. Rima winced. Nadeshiko and Yaya looked at her curiously while Amu and her mother bickered about 'being embarrassing' and 'you could have killed her.'

Amu groaned in frustration and stomped away from her mother, signaling for the other three girls to follow. Scared that Amu would drag them to see Happy-chan if they didn't obey, they scurried up the stairs after her. After leading them into her room, she ran out and came back several moments later with four glasses of water. She locked the door behind her, handed out the water, and smirked as she sat down next to Yaya. Yaya. They both looked at Rima and Nadeshiko, who were beginning to wonder if coming was such a good idea.

"So, Amu-chi, what should we begin with?" Yaya gave Amu a knowing look. Rima and Nadeshiko looked at each other, frightened. One thought passed through both of their minds, _They are so planning something evil. _

Amu smirked as she reached under the pillow next to her and pulled out an empty water bottle. "Spin the Bottle Truth or Dare," she said as she placed the bottle on the floor and motioned for the others to form a circle around it. "I'll go first."

Amu reached for the bottle and flicked her wrist. The bottle spun for several seconds before stopping at Yaya. Amu and Yaya both looked disappointed. Suspicious.

"Alright, Yaya. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," Yaya replied with out hesitation. Amu's smirk was soon back in place.

"I dare you to call Kairi and tell him how much you love him. And you can't tell him it was a dare." Yaya grinned more and more as Amu continued setting the rules for the dare.

"Very well, my dear Amu-chi," she said as she pulled her bubblegum pink cell phone out of her pocket. It had lollipop stickers all over it. Of course.

Yaya dialed Kairi's number and hit the speaker button. They all waited as it rang several times.

"_Hello?"_

"Hello? Kairi? It's Yaya." Amu snickered in the background and Rima and Nadeshiko stared in shock. She was really doing it!

"_Ah, Yuiki-san. What may I help you with?"_

Yaya laughed. Kairi was always so formal, even with his close friends.

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you so so so much and want to marry you!"

"_Wha-" _Yaya swiftly hung up the phone. "How was that?" she asked, smiling. That evil little girl, someday she was gonna rob a bank or something. You could see it in her eyes. Her evil, beady little, pyromaniac-homicide eyes...

"Alright, Yaya," Amu said, passing the bottle over to Yaya. "Your turn to spin." Amu and Yaya looked at each other again, before once more turning their smirks towards the short blond and the thin purple-head. Yaya spun the bottle with such force that it kept spinning for at least forty-five seconds. When you think about it, that's a long time for a bottle to spin.

The bottle stopped on Rima. She gulped as Yaya looked at her with a terrifying grin. If only she had a camera... or an exorcist. "So, Rima-tan..." Yaya said slowly, "Truth... or Dare?" Yaya looked as if she was about to kill somebody, if she hadn't already.

"Uh... Truth," Rima replied quietly. She could see Nadeshiko looking at her with a face full of pity and fear.

"Do you like Nagihiko?" Amu asked as if she hadn't put any thought into the question. Rima gasped, then hit Nadeshiko when she noticed the girl had spit her water out all over her at Amu's question. Amu grinned at Yaya. They had planned this.

"N-No way do I like that ugly, cross-dressing, purple-headed, girly-boy, nice, friendly, funny, handsome..." Rima was so busy "denying" that she liked Nagihiko that she didn't even notice what she was saying. Nadeshiko stared in awe as Amu and Yaya high-fived.

"Wow... just... wow," Nadeshiko said, amazed that anyone could like that idiot of a brother that she had grown to love and hate. She was happy for him... but worried, because Rima obviously wasn't going to admit to liking him any time soon. She noticed that Yaya and Amu were now looking at her while Rima attempted to kill herself with a comb **(A/N: Heck yeah! The emo comb! Check my profile if you don't know.)**.

"Since Rima-tan is busy, Amu-chi, why don't you spin for her?" Yaya grinned. Oh dear. This wouldn't end well. Amu nodded at Yaya and spun the bottle with another flick of her wrist. Of course, it landed on Nadeshiko. "Alright, Na-chi," Yaya said, "Truth or Dare?"

Nadeshiko gulped. If she picked truth, Amu would obviously ask if she liked Kukai, and if Yaya was there when she was asked that, she would go blab about it to the soccer player, them being the big brother/little sister characters they were. "Dare," she replied confidently.

Amu and Yaya looked like they had just woken up on Christmas morning. Rima had stopped with the comb and was now looking back and forth from Nadeshiko, to Amu, to Yaya, and back to Nadeshiko.

"I dare you to ask out Kukai."

Nadeshiko could feel her heart skip several beats at the mention of Kukai's name. Ask him out?! She couldn't do that!...Could she? Amu and Yaya looked at her with anticipation. They all knew that if she didn't do it, she would have to come to school on Monday in a chicken suit. The girls had to come to school in a chicken suit, the boys in the girls uniform. Those were their rules, and you can't break them. If you broke them, there were serious consequences. Consequences like watching the penguin-mating video with Tsukasa and Tadase for eight hours straight.

"Fine. I'll do it." Nadeshiko couldn't believe what was coming out of her own mouth. She felt herself reach into her pocket for her cell phone and dial Kukai's number.

"_How can she remember Kukai's number off the top of her head?" _she heard Amu whisper. It was because ever since she had become real, she had spent so much time, looking at that collection of numbers on her brother's contacts list, wishing that someday, that would be the number on her caller I.D. Sure, it was a bit stalker-y, but lots of girls were like that, dreaming of the day that one guy would notice them.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang some more. Nadeshiko was beginning to wonder if he would ever pick up. If he didn't, then she wouldn't have to go through with this dare, but if he didn't, she knew she would feel that cold emptiness she always felt whenever he left the room. She had never felt this when she was a part of Nagihiko. Was it because she was a girl now? She shrugged off that thought when she heard Kukai pick up.

"_Yo, Kukai here! Hello?"_

"Hello, Kukai," Nadeshiko said softly. She didn't want him to notice what she had started calling him, but couldn't bring herself to call him Souma-kun again.

"_Hey, Fujisaki! What's up?" _Kukai sounded so carefree, as if he had nothing in this world to worry about. Nadeshiko admired this about him.

"Uh..." Nadeshiko hesitated. How would she ask him? Well, it was a bit too late to think about that now. Suddenly, she had an idea. An evil idea, that she would probably get murdered for later, but it would have to work.

"Onii-chan is going on a date with Rima tomorrow and she wants the two of us to tag along on sort of a double date." All while Nadeshiko was saying this, Rima was glaring daggers at the back of her head.

"_Sure, sounds fun!" _Kukai replied without the slightest hesitation. Nadeshiko was filled with both confusion and relief. Confusion of how a simple dare had cause this whole mess, and relief that he hadn't turned her down. Why she was relieved, she still wasn't sure of.

"You idiot! I hate your brother!" Rima cried out. Nadeshiko noticed her voice was serveral times squeakier than usual, and that was saying something.

"You didn't seem to think that when you were describing why exactly you hated him," Amu smirked as Yaya giggled. Rima blushed and shut up.

Now all Nadeshiko had to do was actually set up Rima and Nagihiko's date.

_**Nagihiko's POV**_

I was just laying on my bed, listening to my headphones, when my cell phone rang. I checked the caller I.D. It was Nadeshiko. Wasn't she supposed to be at Amu's sleepover? Why would she call me when she could be talking to Amu, Yaya, and Rima? Did something go wrong?

"Hey, Nadeshiko," I answered the phone. "What's up?" I heard my sister cough nervously on the other end. I felt a bit panicky.

"_Uh..." _she began quietly.

"What in the name of all things kerfuffle is wrong, woman?!" I yelled. I felt bad about yelling at her like that, but I didn't have all night.

"_Me, Kukai, you and Rima are going on a double date tomorrow okay, thanks, bye!" _she said in one breath before she hung up. I dropped my phone and stared straight ahead, paralyzed.

A date? With Rima? Me? With _Rima_?

Wait, she was going with _Kukai?! _What happened to the whole 'guys don't date their best friend's sister' rule? And being Nadeshiko, it's like he's dating me, too!

Oh dear. I feel an overprotective older brother character coming along.

**Goose: It's finally done! Now I can have my bacon!**

**Dwarfy: What?**

**Goose: _Somebody _told me I couldn't have any bacon until I finished this chapter. NOW GO GET ME SOME BACON!**

**Dwarfy: Get your own. But really, it took you thirteen hours to write this?**

**Goose: I have a short attention span. You should know that by now.**

**Dwarfy: Whatever. R&R.**

**Goose: Bacon...**


	8. The Date!

**Goose: (gasp!) Seventeen total reviews! That's almost three times as many as Gray Christmas has!**

**Dwarfy: That's not saying much. I mean, Gray Christmas is only one chapter long, and this is, what, eight?**

**Goose: Shaddap. Anyway, this is Thomas. Thomas is a girl. We call her Thomas because she keeps calling Nagihiko Nadeshiko even though she's already on Doki. **

**Thomas: I'm sorry! It's a habit!**

**Dwarfy: Well break the habit. You had episodes 26-55 to do that. **

**Goose: Yes. You also thought Nagi was 'that guy that works for that company.'**

**Dwarfy: 'That guy' is Ikuto, and 'that company' is Easter. And you thought Tadase's name was Nadeshiko! Even I'm not that bad. **

**Goose: And she can't pronounce Fujisaki or Nagihiko. **

**Thomas: ARGH! GOOSE-CHAN DOES NOT OWN SHUGO CHARA!**

_**Normal POV**_

_Okay, Nagihiko... stay calm... you're just about to go on a date your demon sister set up with the girl who hates you..._ Nagihiko thought to himself as he stood on the front step of the Mashiro household. Nadeshiko, who was afraid that her brother would kill her after setting this date up, left for Kukai's house earlier that morning, leaving Nagihiko to face the wrath of Rima by himself.

The door opened, and Mrs. Mashiro glared at him for a moment before yelling out, "Rima! That boy's here for you!" What considerate parents. Rima rushed to the door and glared at Nagihiko, just like her mother. Her father followed behind and joined the glare-fest.

"Listen, boy," Mr. Mashiro hissed, "if anything, and I mean _anything_, bad happens to my daughter while she is in your care, I can promise you, you'll wish you'd never been born." Nagihiko gulped and nodded meekly.

"Let's just go," Rima muttered, obviously embarrassed by her parents' threats.

As they walked down the street, there was an awkward silence. Rima stared at the flowers growing next to the sidewalk, while Nagihiko let his eyes wander, eventually landing on Rima's small hand. He wanted to hold that delicate hand so badly, he'd give the world just to wrap his hand around hers and have her not fight back or resist. He sighed. That was never going to happen.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nagihiko snapped out of his trance and looked at Rima, but there was something else, something different, about her. Was she blushing? Nagihiko shook off this though. _She's probably just still embarrassed about her parents_, he thought.

"It's nothing, Rima-chan, nothing at all." Nagihiko smiled at the petite girl, hoping she wouldn't see through that pathetic lie. Rima glared at him for several more seconds, then turned away.

"Where are we going, anyway?" she asked quietly. Nagihiko was shocked. He had never expected Rima to talk to him in such a gentle voice. There was definitely something different about her. Did something happen at Amu's sleepover? **(A/N: Oh, Na-chan, if only you knew...)**

"Nadeshiko told me that we were just going to the mall. You know, shopping, lunch, that stuff." Rima's eyes lit up.

"There's a bookstore at the mall!" she squealed. For several moments, Nagihiko was confused, but then he thought, of course, gag manga. Well, at least there was hope that Rima would enjoy the next few hours with her hated nemesis.

Soon enough, Rima and Nagihiko walked through the big revolving doors at the mall **(A/N: My friend just kept spinning in those for like, five minutes on a field trip, and all during that field trip, she was singing/ranting about cross-dressing hobos from Canada O.o)**. After looking around for several seconds, they spotted Nadeshiko waving from in front of the map in the center of the mall.

"Onii-chan! Over here!" Nadeshiko called. Nagihiko couldn't help but smile at how excited and happy the girl was. It was as if it had always been like this, and hopefully, it always would be. Nagihiko and Rima rushed through the crowd to the other two, where both were greeted with glomps from the younger purple-head.

"Ah, Nadeshiko, please get off, before your very favorite super-awesome big brother loses feeling in his arms," Nagihiko pleaded, wincing at the girl's tight grasp.

Nadeshiko pouted. "You're so full of yourself," she whined as she hugged her brother tighter, if that was possible.

"That's why you love me," Nagihiko grinned, yet his face was slowly turning as purple as his long, fluffy hair. **(A/N: Fluffy? Uh... ignore that...)**

Rima and Kukai stared as the two siblings bickered, bragged, and death-hugged. They were both trying to figure out what the heck was going on, and if they'd be like this for the rest of their lives. An 80 year old Nadeshiko glomping an 80 year old Nagihiko... they shuddered at the thought.

"Do you think he realizes he's arguing with himself?" Rima whispered to Kukai. The middle school student glared at her. "What?" Rima couldn't understand what she'd done wrong.

"Mind not saying crap like that?" Kukai hissed, "Nadeshiko... is a bit... _sensitive_... about that topic." Rima's eyes widened. Of course! She hadn't even considered Nadeshiko's feelings in all that had been happening! She was so stupid! Then her eyes widened even more at another thought. She'd never cared about anyone before, except Amu! Why did she suddenly care about Nadeshiko so much?

"Wait, since when do you call her Nadeshiko?"

Kukai ignored her after that.

After much exasperated begging from Nagihiko, Nadeshiko huffed and let him go. Massaging his now sore arms, he asked them all, "So where to?" They all shrugged, knowing they all wanted to go somewhere else. Rima wanted to go to the bookstore, Kukai wanted to go to a sports store, while Nagihiko just wanted to hang out at the food court. Finally, Nadeshiko came up with a plan.

"How about I go with Kukai to the sports store while onii-chan goes with Rima-chan to the bookstore. We'll meet up in the food court in an hour." This was fairly reasonable, though Nagihiko found it hard to trust Kukai with Nadeshiko. Alone. For an hour. But he was just being paranoid. Or was he? No, he was. He hoped.

Paranoid or not, there was an impatient Rima waiting to go to the bookstore, so to the bookstore he shall go, for that was the wish of the young maiden...

"Shut up and take me to the bookstore, you idiot, before I tell your sister you thought she'd look good as a dude, Mr. Self-Absorbed."

And that, my friends, is how you get a purple-head to get you to a bookstore two levels above you on the opposite side of the mall in three seconds flat.

_**With Kukai and Nadeshiko**_

Kukai was worried, very worried. What if all this sports stuff bored her? What if she wasn't having any fun? _What if she killed herself out of boredom, only to suffer for the rest of eternity in the fiery abyss known as 'I-Killed-Myself-Because-I-Hate-Sports-Yet-My-Date-Still-Insisted-On-Going-To-A-Sports-Store' Land?! _Nah, he's just been spending too much time with Nagihiko. Paranoia, my little llamas, paranoia.

Kukai glanced at the delicate girl next to him, who seemed interested in a certain orange ball. "A basketball?" Nadeshiko looked up at him, her eyes sad and confused.

"When I was a part of Nagihiko, I loved basketball, so much... but now that we're different, I just... don't find it interesting anymore..." Kukai was stunned. So... when they separated... they each got individual traits? No wonder Nagihiko's been so lazy lately...

But Kukai couldn't stand to see Nadeshiko cry. He didn't care what anyone else would say. He didn't care if Nagihiko would kill him with an emo comb **(A/N: Yes, I am using your idea, xoxoKiKi)**. He just wanted Nadeshiko to stop crying, even if it was just for a split-second out of shock. He looked at her. She looked at him. Eye contact. They both leaned in, and...

_**In the food court**_

"Where the heck are they?" Nagihiko muttered, tapping his foot under the table. It had been an hour and fifteen minutes since they had split up, and he hadn't gotten a text, call, anything, from Kukai or his sister. Rima shrugged. Whether she would admit it out loud or not, she had had a very good time, and she was actually hoping she and Nagihiko could hang out again sometime. But she'd never tell him that. No. She'd definitely never tell that she was falling in love with her worst enemy and best friend's best friend.

"Onii-chan!" Nagihiko turned so quickly you could hear his neck snap. Ignoring the painful ache, Nagihiko stood up and waved Nadeshiko and Kukai over to the table he and Rima were sitting at. When they got closer, Nagihiko noticed something. Something he hoped he'd never notice.

They were holding hands, both blushing heavily. Nagihiko took a moment to process this before snapping.

"_You made out with my sister?!"_

**Goose: Hehe... a cliffy...**

**Dwarfy: That was so short.**

**Goose: Quality, not quantity. **

**Thomas: You suck.**

**Goose: I thought you died a slow and painful death?**

**Thomas: No. I am very much alive.**

**Goose and Dwarfy (thinking): _Not for long..._**

**Goose: Anyway, xoxoKiKi, I kinda had no idea what I was gonna do for the next chapter, and your review helped me decide what do do for the next couple chapters! Thank you for both helping me and acknowledging the emo comb! Even if you were (or weren't) kidding and it took me about two minutes to figure out what you were saying! Yay!**

**Dwarfy: _Hands xoxoKiKi a virtual pickle_**

**Goose: Dwarfy... we already went over this...**

**Dwarfy: _Hands xoxoKiKi a virtual pie_**

**Goose: Uh... you can have the pickle or the pie...**

**Dwarfy: R&R! ... Did she really sing/rant about cross-dressing hobos from Canada? Wow... **


	9. Revenge, Emo Combs, and Taylor Lautner!

**Goose: Hello, Earthlings. I am from the planet Nagi. Bow down to Supreme Overlord Nagihiko.**

**Dwarfy: She's loopy today. **

**Goose: I do not know this 'loopy' of which you speak.**

**Dwarfy: I will start ignoring you now. **

**Goose: If you ignore me, I will be quiet. The quiet ones are always evil masterminds. **

**Dwarfy: You're already an evil mastermind.**

**Goose: Nagi-sama is an evil mastermind. I am not worthy!**

**Dwarfy: This idiot doesn't own Shugo Chara. Or... Taylor Lautner and Kevin Jonas? But she does own Emo Comb. **

_**Recap**_

"_You made out with my sister?!"_

_**Normal POV**_

Nagihiko stared at Kukai. How could his best friend do this to him? How could his _best friend _kiss his _sister?! _Did he totally forget The Rule? God, this was so messed up...

"Dude, calm down, I didn't make out with your sister," Kukai said, holding his hands up in surrender. Nagihiko stared at him in disbelief. Was he really supposed to fall for that?

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" he asked harshly. Rima stood up from her seat and Nadeshiko put a hand on her brother's arm.

"Onii-chan, please calm down. I'm fine," Nadeshiko said nervously, looking at her brother with worried eyes. Nagihiko looked at her for a minute, then back at Kukai. He could've sworn he saw a faint trace of a smirk on the soccer players face.

_WHAM!_

Kukai staggered back, holding a hand to his now bruised face. Nagihiko lowered his arm and looked at the boy in shock. What had he just done? Did he really just punch his best friend in the face?!

"K-Kukai, I'm so-" Nagihiko's apology was interrupted by a kick in the gut. Wincing as he clutched his stomach, Nagihiko looked at Kukai's face, where the smirk was now totally obvious.

"Kukai!" Nadeshiko gasped as Rima helped Nagihiko stay balanced. Kukai glared at Nadeshiko. Why was she taking his side? Nagihiko had freaked out and made a false accusation, and Nadeshiko was standing up for him? Kukai walked away, his back stiff.

_I wasn't lying_, he thought_, but I wasn't telling the truth either. 'Course we didn't make out. I just kissed her, that's all. _

Nadeshiko looked sadly after Kukai for several moments before turning her attention to her brother. He was mostly recovered, but he still winced slightly when he moved.

"Rima, we should probably head home..." Nadeshiko whispered, glancing around at the people in the mall, who were now staring at the trio.

"But we came to get food..."

"NOO! NOO FOOD FOAR YOUSS!!!! HISS!!!" screamed a random lady walking by. She looked oddly familiar...

"Deja vu much?" Nagihiko whispered to Rima. "Why do I get the feeling I know her?"

"Maybe we knew her in a past life?" Rima suggested.

"YOU ARE BAAaAaAaANED FROM THIS MALL!" the crazy lady who looked incredibly familiar screeched before shooing the three out of the mall.

"AND IVANNA-ONEE-SAN WAS RIGHT! YOU TWO SHOULD HAVE KIDS!"

Rima and Nagihiko gagged, hoping she meant someone else. They all heard someone yell, "Iemhee Scock! What have I told you about scaring away the customers?!"

Erasing that memory from their minds, Nadeshiko and Nagihiko walked Rima home. At her front door, Rima thanked them both before standing on her toes and giving Nagihiko a quick peck on the cheek. Blushing, she closed the door, and Nadeshiko was left with her love-sick brother.

"Let's go, onii-chan," Nadeshiko said quietly, snapping Nagihiko back to his senses. Nagihiko nodded and followed Nadeshiko down the street. They walked in silence for a while before Nadeshiko asked timidly, "Are you mad at Kukai?"

Nagihiko thought for a moment before saying slowly, "Not exactly mad... but a little bit... betrayed..." Nadeshiko looked at her brother in confusion. Nagihiko continued, "I just wish he had told me how he felt about you before going off and kissing you."

Nadeshiko smiled at how much the boy cared about her. "Y'know, we didn't _make out_," she said. "It was just a little kiss..." Nagihiko smiled at her and took her hand in his as they walked side by side.

"I know. And I'm sorry I overreacted," he said, grinning sheepishly.

"It's okay," Nadeshiko reassured him. "But you do realize I'm going to have to get revenge." They walked into their house and Nagihiko looked at her curiously as she went over to the refrigerator.

"Wha-" Nagihiko was cut off as a spoonful of mashed potatoes hit him in the face. He turned and looked at Nadeshiko, who was smirking, twiddling the spoon between her fingers with a container of microwavable mashed potatoes in her other hand.

Nagihiko sighed and walked over to her. Taking the mashed potatoes out of her hand, he flipped the container upside down and dropped it on top of her head. Her hair now sticky with potato, Nadeshiko smirked, twitching, and grabbed a carton of orange juice out of the refrigerator. Unscrewing the cap, she poured the whole thing over her brother's head.

"Why you-" Nagihiko spluttered, his hair and body dripping with juice (though he had to admit, this wasn't as bad as the nuclear chemicals, even if it did sting his eyes quite a bit more). Shivering from the cold juice, he grabbed a package of string cheese and dumped it all over the already mashed potato-ed girl.

Being the silly children they are, they continued to fling the contents of the refrigerator all over each other until their mother came in, saw the horrific mess, made them clean up the kitchen floor/counter/other furniture and stuff with their tongues, threatened that if they reported her for child abuse she'd go all ninja starfish on them, and then sent them to Nadeshiko's room, because Nagihiko's was still under construction after Rhythm blew it up with an eraser and bottle of saline.

"So... now what?" Nagihiko asked, looking at Nadeshiko, who was now temporarily blond from the potatoes. Nadeshiko shrugged, took out a comb, and began trying to work the food out of her hair. Nagihiko heard a ping, and looked up to see a light bulb above his head.

"Rhythm, please stop acting like this is some story where a light bulb appears above your head whenever you have an idea," Nagihiko sighed. Rhythm muttered an apology before flying off to save the remnants of his pet eraser from Nagihiko's room.

"What was your idea?" Nadeshiko asked, looking up from her combing (which was not going too well).

"Well, as long as Kukai thinks I'm mad at him, I might as well act like I'm mad at him."

_**Midnight, Kukai's House**_

Kukai was enjoying his deep sleep when a sharp pain in his arm woke him up. He looked to the side and saw a figure in the dark hunched over him, holding what _looked like _a knife.

. . .

"AAAHHH!!!" Kukai's scream caused the intruder to stumble backwards. Acting quick, Kukai sat up and reached for his lamp. Turning on the light, he looked at the floor and was shocked to see Nagihiko sitting there, in his hand a... pastel green comb?

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" Kukai shouted.

"I WAS BORED AND WANTED TO USE AN EMO COMB ON SOMEONE!" Nagihiko yelled back.

"WHY?!"

"CAUSE TADASE CALLED ME SAYING HIS NEW PANTS WERE BIG ENOUGH TO HOLD TWO PEOPLE AND ASKED IF I WANTED TO COME OVER ANY TRY!"

Kukai stared.

"...That's just sick," he said after a moment of silence. **(A/N: Moment of silence? OMG! Who died? Was it all those demented Nagi fangirls that have prevented me from showing my true colors? Can I claim all rights to Nagi now?)**

"Yeah, I know," Nagihiko replied, standing up. "And then I got an email from Taylor Lautner saying some chick named Bree tried to make him and Tsukasa make out." **(A/N: Playing in the Snow reference X3)**

Again, Kukai stared.

"Then Bree sent me an email that was basically, 'OMG NAGEH I WUV YEW! YEW CAN'T BE GOOSIE'S, I LURVE U 2 MUCH!!1! X3' and I was like... who are you?"

Kukai stared even more before saying, "You know Taylor Lautner?"

Nagihiko nodded. "I had to save him from some Rimahiko fangirls who were trying to make him and Kevin Jonas cosplay as me and Rima."

"... Kevin Jonas is a guy..."

"I'm aware of that," Nagihiko sighed, stretching. He put the comb in his pocket and thought for a moment, then said, "How have your brothers not woken up?"

"They're all lazy bums."

Nagihiko glared. "Lazy bums are people, too, y'know."

"Right. Sorry. Hey, aren't we supposed to be mad at each other?"

It was obvious that he had forgotten that they were displeased with each other, for Nagihiko looked momentarily confused before exclaiming, "Right!" and jumping out the window. Sighing, Kukai turned off the light, rolled over, and tried to get some sleep.

_**With Temari and Rhythm**_

"So, Rhythm, _how the heck do you blow up a room with an eraser and a bottle of saline?!" _Temari roared. Rhythm shrugged nervously.

"Well... y'know... Eraser-chan and Saline-kun never really got along well... and it was one of their worse days... Saline-kun was being really mean to Eraser-chan, and I tried to tell them to calm down, and they both blew up on me. Literally."

Temari sighed at her little brother's hopelessness.

**Goose: And that's it! Sorry if it sucks! Also, I don't hate-hate Tadase (but I don't like him either), I really don't know where that came from...**

**Dwarfy: Tell them why you haven't updated. **

**Goose: Ah, yes, there were certain stickydations...**

**Dwarfy: Situations.**

**Goose: Yeah, that... so... you won't get the whole Iemhee Scock thing unless you read They've Finally Bonded by TranquillityX! I don't own Ivanna Suckhi Scock, and thanks for letting me invent/use her new little sister! -huggles-**

**Dwarfy: R&R. THAT MEANS YOU!**

**Goose: Also, Bree belongs to Tequila-chan!**


	10. Visits From Daddy and Sickness

**Goose: Caitlin... -twitch, twitch-**

**Dwarfy: Breathe, Goose, breath.**

**Caitlin: I'ma bite ya shoulder!**

**Dwarfy: …**

**Goose: …**

**Dwarfy: So I'm Dwarfy and she's just Caitlin? I hate being called Dwarfy! **

**Goose: But Dwarfy... **

**Dwarfy: -throws coffee-**

**Caitlin: Goose does not own Shugo Chara or any other copyrighted thing that may have unintentionally popped up! My hobo ran away!**

_**Normal POV**_

After his room had been fixed and Rhythm had been severely punished by an angry Temari, Nagihiko's life had gone back to its normal routine (or as normal as it can get when you have a nuclear sister who is dating your best friend who is still trying to pretend he hates you and refuses to admit he doesn't). He and Rima had another date scheduled for that coming Friday afternoon ("Aren't you so happy you have me?" Nadeshiko asked smugly) and Kukai was slowly cracking under the pressure of his forced hate.

But then that happened. It had been a normal afternoon for the two Fujisaki children, who were sitting on Nagihiko's bed playing Go Fish with their charas (so of course, Nadeshiko was winning) when they heard the front door bang open. A man with purple hair, just long enough to be pulled into a short ponytail that hung loosely against the back of his neck, wearing jeans and a T-shirt scooted down the hall and stopped at the doorway to Nagihiko's room.

"Na-chan! Have you missed Daddy?" the man cried, a bit (a lot) louder than necessary. Nagihiko twitched, looking at the man with a sort of comical dread of what was coming. The man then twirled around, stopping in front of the bed, and pulling his son into a bear hug **(A/N: Now we know where Nagi gets his bear hugginess!) **

"Hey, Dad," Nagihiko choked, his face turning slightly purple from lack of oxygen. "What are you doing here?"

Mr. Fujisaki pouted, looking at his son. "What, I'm not allowed to visit my favorite little gi... boy?" Nagihiko frowned at his father's close save, then looked at Nadeshiko, who had her fist stuffed in her mouth to stop herself from laughing hysterically. Mr. Fujisaki noticed this and looked as well. It took several seconds for this scene to settle into his mind.

"HONEY! I ONLY REMEMBER HAVING ONE KID! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING BEHIND MY BACK?!" he hollered, jumping away from the kids and running out of the room and down the hallway. They distinctly heard a clang of a pan hitting something hard and someone screeching, "_What do you take me for, you _**(censored because I don't want to mentally scar myself)**_?!" _Mr. Fujisaki came tottering back into the room, sat down on the bed, and looked at the duo expectantly.

"Yaya," Nagihiko said wearily, tired of constantly explaining why Nadeshiko was suddenly real. Judging by the blank expression on his father's face, Nagihiko's brief explanation didn't help at all and the man was still totally clueless.

"Yaya with nuclear chemicals," Nagihiko continued. Mr. Fujisaki let out an understanding "oh!" and was satisfied with this awful explanation. Already accepting the fact that he had a daughter now, he dragged the two children out of the house and down the street.

"Dad, where are we going?" Nagihiko asked hesitantly. He recalled that the last time his father had dragged him out of the house, he had ended up at a drag queen convention, which had not been pretty.

"We're going to go get ice cream, my dearest Na-chan, thank you for asking. You really are such a cute little fluffalumpagus!"

Nagihiko was relieved to see that this was one of his father's more normal days.

They walked a few blocks before stopping in front of an old-fashioned soft-serve ice cream place. They walked in and were greeted by a bored looking waitress wearing a T-shirt and pair of sweatpants, who had obviously just woken up.

"Hello, welcome to Planet Boredom, how would you like to die today?" she asked in a monotone. The Fujisaki trio twitched. The waitress stared for a moment before looking at Nagihiko and saying, "You look like a girl. Can I lick you?" in the same dull voice. Mr. Fujisaki gasped.

"Debbie! It's been so long!" he cried, before Super-Glomping the emotionless girl. "I haven't seen you since the cornflake rebellion of 1983! How have you been?"

"I've been wondering how a Japanese person like me could end up with a name like Debbie," the girl replied, looking at the man who was glomping her. Nadeshiko and Nagihiko just inched away, towards a more normal looking waitress who was looking at her co-worker in disgust (This waitress was actually wearing a uniform).

"Hello, and welcome to Planet _Ice Cream, _is it just going to be the two of you or is _he _joining you?" the woman asked, twitching slightly at the sight of Mr. Fujisaki, who was attempting at engaging Debbie in an animated conversation that seemed to have something to do with scrambled eggs and lamps.

"Uh... I think he'll be with us later," Nadeshiko said, noticing that her brother was much to embarrassed to even speak. The waitress nodded and led them to a booth, where the two sat down next to each other. They noticed that there weren't many people around, and Nagihiko decided that this was a perfect opportunity to talk to Nadeshiko without being over heard by certain people (such as their mother, Amu, their mother, Yaya, their mother, Ikuto, and their mother).

"Nadeshiko," he began, not sure of how to say this without risking his chances of living a happy life. He decided to just say it. "Do you like-like as in love Kukai?" he said in one breath.

Nadeshiko stared for a moment. Nagihiko became aware that people were doing quite a lot of staring lately.

"I..." Nadeshiko began, but she was interrupted by Mr. Fujisaki trotted towards them and sat down next to Nadeshiko with a _thump_. Smiling, the older man grinned from one child to the other, back and forth, and eventually picked his all ice-cream menu off of the table with an unnecessary flourish.

"Methinks that I'll have the banana..." they heard him murmur to himself. Excusing their father's... unique... word choice, they both watched him with interest. If Nadeshiko had to describe him, she would have said he was eccentric, fun-loving, and the type of person who didn't care what other people thought. If Nagihiko had to describe him, he would have said he was weird.

Noticing their stares, Mr. Fujisaki looked up and smiled once more before turning to Nadeshiko. "So, you're really real?" he asked her. Nadeshiko nodded, and he continued. "I'm not proud of the whole cross-dressing family tradition, and I'm not happy that I felt the need to make Nagihiko act like a girl like I did when I was a child. But look at all the good that's come from it: I now have a daughter to go along with my other daughter... I mean son."

Nagihiko resumed his twitching, which he seemed to feel the need to do a lot.

Debbie came up to them minutes later, and after ordering thirty-seven banana ice cream cones (much to the annoyance of Nadeshiko and Nagihiko, who were told they'd have to carry the leftovers home), Mr. Fujisaki looked next to him at Nadeshiko. He noticed she looked a little pale, but she seemed healthy enough. Still, his fatherly instincts wouldn't let this go, and he couldn't stop worrying. Trying to convince himself it was nothing, he clapped giddily when Debbie, along with about five other waitresses and even a couple of grumbling, unhappy customers brought him his precious banana ice cream.

After he finished several cones, he tossed the rest carelessly into his purse (which Nadeshiko and Nagihiko stared at, a look of horror on their faces) and said goodbye to the two outside the shop.

"You're not staying?" Nadeshiko asked, kicking her brother when he looked up hopefully.

"Sorry, m'dears, but I have a thingy to go to. Me and my high school buddies are going to the movies to see _Peter the Penguin Learns to Spell . _Quite interesting, from what I've seen on the trailors, and it's only eight hours long!"

Nadeshiko and Nagihiko just stared as their father skipped merrily down the street, swinging his purse and humming what sounded suspiciously like a theme song to an anime, something to do with eggs and hearts or something.

_**The Next Morning**_

Nagihiko sat at the kitchen table, slowly eating his cereal and thinking about various things. Some of these things included Rhythm's stupidity, Rima, and the fact that Nadeshiko didn't seem to be acting herself that morning. She looked pale, and the usual sparkle in her golden eyes was dimmed.

"Nadeshiko, are you sure you're okay?" he asked for what seemed the eighty millionth time that day. Nadeshiko looked at her brother in frustration, and he took that as a 'yes and if you don't stop asking me that you'll wish you were in the clutches of those demon fangirls instead of suffering what I'd put you through'.

Shrugging off his older brother instincts, he changed the subject, trying to restart the conversation from the day before. "So _do _you like-like as in love Kukai?" he asked her, looking up to see if his mother was clinging to the ceiling fan to listen to them talk like she had done before on multiple occasions. She wasn't. He turned his attention back to Nadeshiko, who was deep in thought, resting her head on her hand.

"I really don't know," she said after several moments of silence. She grinned sheepishly at her brother, who sighed, smirking slightly. He should have known. After all, he still wasn't sure how he felt about Rima. He stood up and dumped his empty bowl in the sink. Nadeshiko followed him out the door and they walked, taking in the sights of flowers blossoming and birds chirping. Smiling, Nagihiko took Nadeshiko's hand and sped up a bit, leading her to a grassy park, where he spotted Yaya, Amu, Rima, and Tadase waiting for them **(A/N: I realize they haven't been in the story much... so... yeah...)**. They had arranged this picnic several days ago, hoping that they could spend some quality Guardians-And-Nuclear-Little-Sister-of-Guardian time together.

"Nadeshiko! Nagihiko! Over here!" Amu waved to them enthusiastically. The two Fujisakis hurried over to her, noticing that they were sitting on a blanket that had a border of small, multicolored hearts, spades, clovers and diamonds.

"Hey, Amu-chan!" Nadeshiko giggled, pulling the pink-haired girl into a hug. Surprisingly, Amu treated Nadeshiko how she had always treated Nagihiko when he was cross-dressing. They were best friends, inseparable (except when they had dates with certain soccer players and cat boys).

Settled under a large tree, the kids chatted happily, remembering things, thinking of the things they'd like to do with that tuning fork (which they still couldn't understand why it was called a fork).

Nagihiko suddenly felt as if something was about to go terribly wrong. He glanced at Nadeshiko. She was pale. Paler than she was before. She hadn't even touched her food, and she seemed to be dazed.

Before Nagihiko could even figure out what was happening, Nadeshiko was lying on the ground, unconcious.

He felt his mind go blank with fear. What was wrong? Why had she fainted? And why had she been acting so strange all day? He remembered a memory that now seemed so faraway, so long ago, after Nadeshiko had become real but before she had become so essential to his life.

_Flashback_

_Tadase looked at Nagihiko, worry etched on his face. "Fujisaki-kun," he started, hesitantly. "You do realize that there is a possibility... that the effects of the chemicals Yuiki-san mixed could wear off?"_

_Nagihiko stared at him blankly._

_Tadase continued. "I mean, even the most powerful substances can only provide so much. It's highly likely... that Nadeshiko may not be with us for long."_

_Nagihiko glared at him. "You make it sound like she's going to die," he said bluntly. _

_Tadase flinched. "Well," he said quietly, "in a way, she is. Think about it: she'll vanish eventually, and I don't mean to sound harsh or anything, but isn't that basically the same as dying? ...Wouldn't she still be gone forever?"_

_End Flashback_

Nagihiko felt his blood run cold. No. She couldn't leave. She couldn't, after he had become so attached to her. But Nadeshiko's face was white as a sheet, her skin cold. She had been fine the day before. Don't illnesses usually start small before becoming so bad?

Nadeshiko _was _disappearing. She was slowly getting paler and paler, contrasting her dark hair. But Nagihiko was determined; he wouldn't let her go.

**Goose: Well... I feel that was rushed...**

**Dwarfy: Meh. **

**Caitlin: Can I break your pencils in half?**

**Goose: You're still here?**

**Caitlin: Yeah.**

**Dwarfy: Such engaging conversations.**

**Goose: Dwarfy! You said big words! I'm so proud!**

**Dwarfy: Shut up.**

**Caitlin: Review and you'll get the bacon I stole from one of Goose's friends that she was gonna give her reviewers!**

**Goose: Caitlin!**


	11. I Need Her

**Goose: Some unfortunate news: Dwarfy has decided to quit due to lack of love. So here in her place is my other friend, Duck.**

**Duck: Hola!**

**Goose: Unfortunately, Duck is not an anime fan.**

**Duck: So I have no idea what's going on!**

**Goose: Yes... I don't own Shugo Chara!**

_**Normal POV**_

Nagihiko sat in a small wooden chair, asleep, bent over onto the bed and using his arms as a pillow. He had fallen asleep at Nadeshiko's bedside, having stayed up all night, watching her and praying she'd wake up.

"How is she?" Rima asked, walking into the room. Seeing the look on Nagihiko's face, she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine," the blond said, but Nagihiko was still worried.

There was silence until Nagihiko looked at Rima and asked, "Are the others still asleep?"

Rima nodded. "I can't believe they all insisted on spending the night here. Yaya did some sleepwalking at three in the morning and ate all of the bacon in the refrigerator, but other than that, it was a pretty quiet night," she said.

"They probably wanted to stay close by in case Nadeshiko's condition changed," Nagihiko told her. The couple walked out of Nadeshiko's bedroom, down the hall, and into the living room of the Fujisaki mansion, where the rest of the Guardians were scattered across the floor, snoring a little bit in their sleeping bags.

Amu stirred and her honey-colored eyes fluttered open. She sat up and looked curiously at Rima and Nagihiko, who shook their heads at Amu's unasked question. Sighing and laying back down, Amu stared at the ceiling. After Nagihiko, Amu had taken this whole situation the hardest, seeing as Nadeshiko had been her first real friend. None of them felt any better when they remembered that they still had to tell Kukai about what happened.

Yaya and Tadase woke up moments later, noticed the worried expressions on the faces of the other three, and both, even Yaya, were quiet. The clock on the wall chimed 10:30 in the morning, and Yaya, after mumbling that she had ballet class, grabbed her things and hurried out of the house.

Just then, the phone rang, snapping the remaining four out of an awkward silence. Nagihiko answered, and flinched when he heard that it was Kukai who was calling.

"Yo, Fujisaki!" Kukai started energetically. "I've been calling your sister's cell phone for the past half hour! She's not the type to sleep in, and she said she wasn't busy today! What's up?"

Nagihiko hesitated; this didn't seem like the kind of thing you'd tell a guy over the phone. He finally managed to find his voice (sort of) and choked out, "M-maybe I should meet you somewhere, Souma-kun, and we'll talk there."

"Um... sure, I guess," Kukai answered, sounding thoroughly confused. "See you in a few minutes at the park, then?" Nagihiko agreed, and they both hung up.

Nagihiko turned to the others. "Anyone want to come with me to tell Souma-kun about Nadeshiko?" he asked. Rima then said that her parents would be worried about her, and Tadase muttered something about taking care of his sick grandmother and hunting down 'that thieving cat'. Nagihiko looked hopefully at Amu, who flinched, but sighed and nodded.

Feeling slightly better now that someone was coming with him to his destruction, Nagihiko led Amu out of the house (for she frequently got lost on her way out, even when the door was only three feet away from her). Several minutes later, they arrived at the grassy, tree-filled park, where Kukai stood waiting for them with a carefree look on his face.

"Hinamori! You're here, too?" Kukai asked, grinning at Amu, who was now whimpering. "What's wrong with her?" Kukai was now frowning as he turned curiously towards Nagihiko.

"Uh... maybe you should sit down," Nagihiko advised, motioning towards a wooden bench that was occupied only by several pigeons and one goose. Kukai shooed the birds away (the goose pecked his hand angrily and flew away towards a stand where a girl in a panda T-shirt was selling bacon) and sat down.

"So what's wrong?" he repeated, looking from Amu to Nagihiko. They sat on either side of him, and Amu looked up at him pleadingly.

"Please don't be too upset, Kukai," she begged. Kukai's sense of panic rose. What on earth could possibly be wrong?

"Nadeshiko's not sick or hurt, is she?!" he demanded. The other two glanced at each other.

"Well..." Nagihiko began, "we think Nadeshiko may be.... disappearing." Correction: they _knew _Nadeshiko was disappearing, and even though giving false hope may cause nothing but pain in the end, they wanted to make the situation seem better than it was.

"What... what do you mean, 'disappearing'?" Kukai whispered, horrified.

Nagihiko looked at Amu, who said shakily, "We're not sure... how much longer Nadeshiko will be real."

Kukai stood up so abruptly that Nagihiko and Amu jumped, startled. Kukai began to walk away, but Nagihiko grabbed his arm.

"Where are you going?"

Kukai glared at the other two. "I'm going to see her, so let me go!" he said, his voice raised.

Nagihiko did not let go. "Calm down before you see her. She's weak right now, and the last thing she needs in someone having an emotional breakdown right in front of her. She'll think it's her fault, and that would make things worse," he instructed calmly. Kukai attempted to wrench his arm away, but the other boy's grip was too strong.

"You think I can calm down?!" the appearance of carelessness was gone from Kukai's face. "You have no idea how I feel!"

Nagihiko did not falter, nor did he loosen his grip. "Don't act all misunderstood. We're all worried, and the rest of us care about her just as much as you do."

Kukai finally managed to get his arm away from Nagihiko. "_You don't love her!" _he roared, glaring at Nagihiko with his face full of anger and hate.

_Slap!_

Kukai raised a hand to his face as he gingerly touched the spot that had been slapped, but it had been Amu who had struck, no Nagihiko.

"How dare you?" the pink-haired girl whispered, her voice no longer shaking from nervousness, but from anger. "How _dare _you even _suggest _that we don't love Nadeshiko! Sure, we don't love her in the romantic way, but we still love her! We all love her! We're all scared, terrified, of what's going to happen! So don't you _ever _even _think _that we don't care!"

Kukai blinked. Both boys were staring in shock, and Amu suddenly felt very self-conscious and felt the need to watch two squirrels fight over an acorn. Very reluctantly, Kukai sat down.

"But... when can I see her?" Kukai looked to be on the brink of tears; he had lost Nadeshiko once, when he found out she wasn't real, and he didn't think he could bear losing her again. Noticing this, Nagihiko couldn't help but regret how harsh he'd been.

"If she wakes up and is feeling up to it, we'll call you over," he said, praying this would make up for his behavior.

"...Thanks," Kukai muttered. Amu looked between the two boys, and an awkward tension filled the air. It was so quiet, you could hear the gentle breeze, until...

"WILL YOU JUST MAKE UP ALREADY?!" Amu screamed as loud as she could, causing both boys to fall over in shock. Covering their ears and eying Amu warily, Kukai and Nagihiko stood back up. They looked at each other for a moment, and only when Amu opened her mouth to scream again did they apologize.

"I guess... I'm sorry," Kukai sighed. "I was wrong to think that you didn't care. You're her brother, and she used to be a part of you, so I guess.. you care more than I do. I'm such an idiot..."

"Stop," Nagihiko told him. "I was way too cold with you, and you had every right to think that I didn't care. I certainly didn't act like it. I was just too proud to show that I was upset. I should be the one who's apologizing, I'm the idiot."

More silence. The corners of their mouths twitched. They grinned. Amu sighed as her two friends gave in and let smiles spread across their faces. Then they all went their separate ways, each to their own home.

Amu felt slightly relieved. It was still nerve-wracking that Nadeshiko was so ill, so frail and delicate, but it would have been even harder if everyone was against each other, in a battle to blame each other. As long as they all stayed friends... they'd manage.

As Kukai walked, he thought.

He wondered how Nadeshiko was doing. Surely, she was at her own home, because they couldn't take a girl that wasn't supposed to exist to the hospital. He wondered if she was awake, was she thinking about him, maybe even dreaming about him...?

He didn't think he could handle the wait to see her, but he would. He would, for her sake. He did everything for her sake these days. He apologized to Nagihiko, only because the thought of how sad Nadeshiko would be to see them fighting drove all anger out of his mind.

He opened the front door and walked past his brothers, who were lying on the couch, eating chips and watching sports. Of course, they completely ignored him as he hurried up to his room and locked the door.

He picked his cell phone up from the bedside table and saw that he had one new text message... from Nadeshiko. Heart thumping, he read it over and over several times before collapsing onto the floor, tears flooding his face.

_'Mother and Baaya don't think I'm going to get any better. They think I'm going to disappear any minute now... so I wanted to tell you, I'_

The message had ended there. She what? What did she want to tell him? Why didn't she finish her message? Unless... he checked the time the text was received: half an hour ago. '_They think I'm going to disappear any minute now...'_

Meanwhile, Nagihiko was just opening the front door of his own house. He looked inside to see his mother and Baaya talking in hushed voices, and they both looked very sad.

"What's up?" Nagihiko asked worriedly. Could Nadeshiko's condition have gotten any worse? Had she still not woken up? His mother looked up, startled, and when she saw her son, a flash of pity crossed her face. Nagihiko was panicking now; the only time he had ever seen his mother so upset was when they had to go to Europe, and this pity was twice as bad...

"I'm sorry, Nagihiko," his mother said quietly. "She's gone."

Nagihiko could feel his world collapsing around him, his heart breaking into a million pieces... how? Why? She was so beautiful, perfect, why did she have to go? Why couldn't he go instead? Why was life so unfair? After all they'd been through, all the fun times they spent together, why did she leave him?

He decided that he didn't believe him, that they were lying, that this was some sort of sick joke. He ran down the hall and opened Nadeshiko's bedroom door; he felt as if his heart was up in his throat. He looked at the bed... empty. You could still see the position she had been in before she had gone, the shape of her head on the pillow... but thinking of that wouldn't bring her back.

He wondered if anything could bring her back.

At the same time, that exact moment, both Kukai and Nagihiko were thinking the same thing: _I need her._

**Goose: The end... of this chapter.**

**Duck: Uh... I will pretend I understand what's going on.**

**Goose: Watch it. Anyway, I'm pleased with this chapter... I think there's more plot to it that the other ones, especially in the beginning. But that may just be me hallucinating.**

**Duck: Well then...**

**Goose: AH! I GIVE UP! REVIEW TO BRING DWARFY BACK!**

**Duck: Hey!**


	12. Last Chapter

**Goose: Hey, sorry for the long wait! I was lazy, then I had to give someone marriage counseling, then Dwarfy kidnapped me...**

**Dwarfy: I was bored...**

**Goose: So you kidnapped me... **

**Dwarfy: Not literally. I just invited you over and wouldn't leave you alone until you said yes.**

**Goose: Okay, not literally, but... meh. Anyway, this is the last chapter. I originally had two or three chapters planned out, but they were all really short, so I combined them.**

**Dwarfy: Goose owns nothing you recognize!**

**Goose: By the way, thanks to kazorashi for helping me a whole bunch with improving my writing (see difference between chapters 1-2 and chapters 3-12), not to mention half the plot... hehe... love you!**

_**Normal POV**_

Kukai refused to believe it. He wouldn't, he _couldn't _believe that she was gone. The text message... it had to be some sort of sick joke... yes, that was it, someone thought it would be funny to break his heart... but that couldn't be right. The Guardians were the only people who knew of Kukai's relationship with Nadeshiko, and none of them would do something so cruel...

He had to see for himself, see proof that the girl truly was nonexistent. He rushed back out of the house, ignoring his brothers, who were now yelling commands at him, and sprinted down the street. Skidding to a halt in front of the Fujisaki mansion, he pressed a shaking finger to the doorbell. After several moments, a distressed looking Baaya opened the door, at the same time wiping tears from her eyes.

"Oh, Master Souma..." she said, her voice breaking slightly, "I trust you are here to see... well... please, this way..." Baaya led Kukai inside and waved her hand in the direction of what he knew was Nadeshiko's bedroom. As he neared the door, slightly ajar, he heard gentle sobbing. Peeking inside, he saw Nagihiko kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room, and Kukai felt his heart stop...

"Nagihiko!" he yelled, rushing forward and grabbing the knife out of the other boy's trembling hands. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! You could seriously hurt yourself!"

Nagihiko looked up at Kukai, and first the first time ever, neither of them could give any friendly advice, joke around, or just laugh like the brothers they often seemed to be. They could just cry for the loss of such a good person and friend. They both knew that they weren't alone in their mourning, that they still had each other to lean on for support, but that didn't change the fact that this was hard. It was hard on both of them, and when they thought of the others, blissfully unaware of the hard truth, they could feel more sobs rising in their throats.

Tossing the knife aside, Kukai grabbed Nagihiko's hands to check his wrists. Kukai felt some of the tension lift when he saw that he had arrived at a good time, and that Nagihiko hadn't succeeded in what he had been trying to do. Kukai then looked into Nagihiko's eyes, which were empty, no longer sparkling with their caring warmth that could make anyone feel loved.

"We..." Kukai whispered, afraid that if he spoke too loud, the reality would come crashing down harder than ever. "We have to tell the others... they have to know... we can't just stay here." Nagihiko blinked and, eyes still showing no emotion, nodded. Kukai stood up and, still holding Nagihiko's hands, pulled him up as well. Kukai pulled out his cell phone and sent a text message to each of the Guardians: _Meet in the park in fifteen minutes. _Like when Nadeshiko had begun disappearing, this was not a thing to tell over the phone.

Twenty minutes later, six people were sitting under a tree, four of them waiting to find out what was so horrible for Nagihiko and Kukai to lose all of the playfulness that their eyes used to hold. Amu, Tadase, Yaya and Rima could all guess the heartbreaking truth, but would not believe it until they heard it from a witness.

Clearing her throat quietly, Amu was the first to speak. "So... is she...?"

Nagihiko looked up at her with his blank, lifeless eyes, and Amu felt her throat constrict, preventing anymore speech. Rima gently pulled Nagihiko into a hug, and that small act was enough. Nagihiko wrapped his arms around her neck and sobbed into her shoulder, and the others could all feel tears pouring down their faces.

Yaya stood up and looked around. "Why... why are we all crying?" she asked quietly. The others stared up at her in shock. Yaya continued. "It's not like we've lost everything... I mean, we still have each other. Mama always said that in hard times, friends are the most important. With friends, we can make it through the hard times... Yaya wants to help her friends in any way she can."

Wiping his eyes, Nagihiko looked up at Yaya, a spark of hope in his eyes. "Yaya-chan..." he said, "You brought... her... here, so... y-you can do it again...?" It was more of a question than a statement. At the pleading look in Nagihiko's eyes, Yaya grinned.

"Leave it to Yaya!"

~*~*~*~

Nadeshiko slowly felt herself slipping into consciousness... no, not that. She hadn't been unconscious to begin with... she could smell anything, nor feel any emotions. There was no air, yet she didn't have to breathe... she couldn't see anything, but it was not dark, yet it was not light either...

She tried to move, but she found that it was as if she had no body... she could not feel any surface... it was almost like she was floating, suspended... it was neither warm nor cold... eventually, she came to a conclusion... she was nothing.

~*~*~*~

Amu dragged her feet home. It would be a few days until Yaya got all of the necessary chemicals to recreate the incident that had first brought Nadeshiko to the real world. Until then, there was nothing any of them could do except wait. She opened the door, ignored her father's cries of, "AMU! WERE YOU OUT WITH A BOY?!" and slowly made her way up to her room.

Opening the door (which she kept closed because Ami could not reach the doorknob), her eyes widened in surprise to see Ikuto sitting on her bed, waiting for her. He smiled, not his usual perverted smile, but a genuine smile, and patted the bed next to him. Hesitating only for a moment, Amu sat down.

"I heard," Ikuto said quietly. "About your friend."

How Ikuto knew, Amu had no idea, but the gentleness in his voice shocked her more than anything. Ikuto was not mocking her, not making rude remarks or cryptic hints about Easter. This small act of kindness touched Amu... she had never believed that he had actually cared about her... most of the time, it seemed like she was only a toy for him, to play with until she got thrown away... but no, Ikuto cared.

That night, Amu fell asleep crying in Ikuto's arms, and he gently tucked her into bed before kissing her on the forehead and quietly leaving through the window.

~*~*~*~

Tadase sighed as he sat in his room. He had been affected the least by this whole thing, but he couldn't say that he wasn't hurt. He missed Nadeshiko, and he wished that he could comfort Amu... but he knew that Ikuto would already be there, comforting his princess... _his _princess...

But he was wrong... Amu wasn't his, and she never was. Sure, they had dated, but they were only elementary crushes, not true love. She had only loved him for his princely image, and he had only loved her for Amulet Heart... they had only fallen in love with parts of each others whole personality.

He realized now that Amu belonged with Ikuto, his onii-san. Kiseki had told him so many times that 'a king never gives up' and 'don't surrender to that thieving cat, after what he did to you', but Tadase wouldn't listen. He knew that Amu was always careful around Tadase, as if she was scared of him... they were never in a serious relationship... but he shouldn't be thinking of these things now. He should be thinking of Nadeshiko. He should be thinking of getting her back.

~*~*~*~

Rima curled up in a ball on her bed. She was worried about Nadeshiko, and whether they'd be able to get her back or not. She was worried about Amu, because even though they were best friends, Nadeshiko had been her _first _friend. She was worried about Kukai, suddenly losing the girl he loved. But most of all, she was worried about Nagihiko.

Nagihiko hadn't said a single word to her. He had only cried, clutching onto Rima's shirt like a life preserver. She couldn't bear to see the usually calm boy break down like that. She had never seen Nagihiko even tear up before, and he was always so hopeful, even in the most terrible situations... and the look of hope on his face as he spoke to Yaya made her want to cry even more. What if Yaya couldn't do anything?

What if they couldn't bring Nadeshiko back?

~*~*~*~

For the third time that day, Kukai walked past his brothers without saying anything. He hurried to his room, where he locked the door behind him before sliding down to the floor. Clutching his head in his hands, he thought back to when he had been happy with Nadeshiko...

It had been their second date, and they were playing video games in an arcade. Of course, Nadeshiko had been humiliating him, all the while smiling that innocently sweet smile of hers... there had been a time when he had yelled at her for being out late at night, alone. He wished he could go back to that time and pull her into his arms, to show her that he cared...

He trusted Yaya, though. He knew she'd never rest until she found a way to bring Nadeshiko back. Then a thought worried him: What if Nadeshiko didn't _want _to come back? What if it was like living and dieing: The dead are supposed to remain dead? But no... Nadeshiko had always been so happy to be with her friends, and he could always tell when she was lying or acting...

He would wait for Nadeshiko to come back. He wouldn't dwell on it, because Nadeshiko wouldn't want him to do that. She'd want him to have fun, even if it's without her. She'd want him to live his life, even when she can't. So he would, if only to make her happy.

~*~*~*~

Nagihiko sat on a bench in the garden behind his house, watching flowers sway in the breeze, birds coming and going, splashing around in a birdbath, and water, sparkling in the small pond, where you could see fish swimming around. Nagihiko wondered how fish are never bored... they had no freedom, trapped in the pond...

He realized that's how his heart felt right now. He was trapped within his own emotions, some telling him to keep hoping for Yaya to bring Nadeshiko back, some telling him that it's useless, and others telling him to move on... and he didn't know what emotion to stick with.

He wanted to hope, to _know _that Yaya could bring her back, but if she couldn't, his whole world would collapse again. He had Rima, but Rima was not his little sister, the one he could talk to everything about. It was Nadeshiko who had set him and Rima up in the first place... but he couldn't hope for something, when it wasn't guaranteed.

He wanted to cry, too... he knew that there was a good chance that Nadeshiko would never come back... when he thought this, he could feel tears pouring down his face once more, and he would quickly try and force this thought out of his mind, and it was like he was fighting himself, a mental war...

And to move on... he couldn't move on, he couldn't forget her, yet this seemed to be the best option. He could hope and have his heart break, or he could cry until he couldn't cry anymore... neither of them would help him, but moving on could... if he moved on, he could focus on education, and going to a good college when he was older... he could focus on his relationship with Rima... but it hurt too much to move on.

So Nagihiko remained on the bench in the garden behind his house, fighting with himself, trying to figure out how to feel, and none of his feelings were winning, yet none were losing... it was even, all emotions fighting their hardest to gain control, and he couldn't take it, and he felt himself drift off to sleep right there....

~*~*~*~

Kairi couldn't understand why he was there. He couldn't understand why Yaya had dragged him over to her house, and he couldn't understand what she was ranting about. Something about Nadeshiko... the former Queen? And Nagihiko? He had been told that they were the same person, but now Yaya was talking as if they were different.

"Yuiki-san, _what _on Earth is going on?!" he said finally, gaining the girl's attention. He really didn't know why he had a crush on her; she was almost as dense as Amu, and that's saying something.

"Oh, we didn't tell you?" Yaya asked. Kari shook his head. "Well," Yaya continued, "I accidentally spilled nuclear chemicals over Nagi, and they somehow made Nadeshiko real. But today, I guess the effect of the chemicals wore off, and Nadeshiko disappeared. We're trying to bring her back."

Kairi wasn't sure whether he should believe this or not. Yaya was telling him that she had spilled _nuclear _chemicals all over a boy (how had he survived that?!) and created a girl that wasn't supposed to exist. That was impossible! But hey, so are little people hatching from eggs and transforming with you...

"So what do you need me here for?" Kairi asked. If Yaya could just mix the chemicals again, she should be fine, so why was he there?

"Well..." Yaya said sheepishly. "I don't remember what chemicals I used. I only remember that it was bubbly, olive green, and smelled like grape jelly and Kukai's old gym socks." Kairi winced at this description; he had smelled Kukai's gym socks once on a dare and had no desire to do it again.

But Kairi knew exactly what would create such an appearance and smell, and if Yaya had the necessary materials, he could easily recreate the mixture. Yet there was still a thought nagging him in the back of his head...

"Ace," he said, gaining Yaya's attention again. "You do realize that there's no guarantee that recreating the event in which Fujisaki-san was created will bring her back again? It could merely cover the male Fujisaki with a disgusting mixture and scar him for life if he wasn't the first time."

Yaya looked thoughtful for a moment, before saying slowly, "I want to try it anyway. Kukai and Nagi and Amu-chi... we all want Nadeshiko back. We want to at least try. If we don't try, we'll never know if it works or not. If we do try, there's still a chance we can get Nadeshiko back, and then everything will get better again. Of course there's a chance it won't work. All those famous inventors... if they didn't try, we wouldn't have technology or electricity or Toaster Strudel..."

Kairi was shocked that Yaya could make such a passionate speech. Okay, the Toaster Strudel part ruined it a bit, but she had a good point. They would never know if they could bring Nadeshiko back unless they tried, and Kairi was determined to help now.

"Okay," he said, looking at the bottles Yaya had scattered across the table. "Here's what we do..."

_**Two Days Later...**_

Once again, Yaya had gathered Amu, Tadase, Rima, Nagihiko, and Kukai in her basement, except this time Kairi joined them in their impatient wait. The atmosphere was a lot more tense than it had been before, and all of them were praying with all their hearts that this would succeed.

It was Kairi who mixed the chemicals this time, for Yaya did not know which chemical was which, and even if he told her, there was absolutely no chance she would remember any of them. Looking up at each hopeful, worried face, he felt the pressure on him triple. He knew that if it didn't work, it wouldn't be his fault, but since he was the once making the mixture, he couldn't help but feel responsible.

Carefully emptying the right bottles into the cauldron, he couldn't help it when his hand began shaking with nervousness and his legs felt weak. Yet he still went on, pouring in each bottle in turn, emptying out every little drop.

For a moment, the potion looked nothing like the original. Yaya was sure that she had listed all the appearances of the original, and Kairi was sure that he knew what chemicals made it up. All of them could feel their hearts sinking down to the floor, when...

The potion turned olive green, and a split-second later, a silver mist began pouring out... they couldn't see anything, and struggled to find each other... several minutes later, the mist cleared...

Kukai and Nagihiko rushed forward and pulled the girl into a hug. Her face was bright with joy, delighted to be back in the real world. Kairi explained that she would have to drink the potion every few weeks to keep her real, but she didn't care. She was with her friends again.

"So... what was that text you sent me? You didn't finish it. What were you trying to say?" Kukai asked. Nadeshiko smiled and pulled him to the side.

"I was going to say... I love you." A moment later, Kukai found himself being kissed, and right then, he realized that he was happy with Nadeshiko. For a long time, he had wondered if Nadeshiko belonged with them in the real world, but it wasn't until then that he knew that she _was _supposed to be here.

_**The End**_

**Goose: ...OHMIGOSH IT'S OVER!**

**Dwarfy: -throws confetti-**

**Goose: And... it's over seven pages! And over 3,000 words! That's a page longer than usual and almost 1,000 words more than usual! Ack!**

**Dwarfy: -sniff- It's over!**

**Goose: Yay! R&R, please! And if the ending sucks, don't hate me!**


End file.
